HJGHT International,
30 April 196*
699
Flight Commanders
first and third Jet Com-
manders are now partici-
pating in trie flight-test
programme to obtain FAA
certification under CAR4b and
SR422b. The third machine
(nearer camera) first flew on
April 7; the second has been
used fcr static load testing
aircraft armaments. He was responsible for
introducing the Constantinesco interrupter
gear for firing bullets through the propeller
disc and the Pomeroy bullet for attacking
observation balloons.
In later years Col Blacker formed the
ambition to fly over Mt Everest (long before
it had ever been climbed) and with Col P. T.
Etherton he organized the 1933 expedition
which overflew the mountain with two
biplanes, a Westland Wallace and a West-
land PV3. Col Blacker flew with the
expedition as chief observer.
During the Second World War Col
Blacker was again involved in weapon
development and won a £25,000 inventors'
award for his work on infantry-borne anti-
tank weapons.
Hunting Surveys Win OS Contract
A contract has been awarded to Hunting
Surveys to provide a flying unit attached to
the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain.
A specially equipped Hunting Survey
Prince aircraft and an experienced crew
will be used by the air photography section
of the Ordnance Survey to carry out com-
parative tests of a number of new and
experimental cameras of British and foreign
manufacture. The twin-engined Survey
Prince is fitted with camera ports that per-
mit two vertical cameras to be operated
simultaneously, thereby permitting direct
comparison of results from exposures made
under identical conditions.
In addition, the aircraft and crew will be
moved about the country to obtain photo-
graphy for the preparation of new OS maps
and for the revision of existing sheets.
Mademoiselle et Demoiselle Flying instructor Joan Hughes tests the replica
of a 1909 Demoiselle monoplane built by White Waltham engineer Douglas Bianchi
for the film "Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines." The fat-four engine
(an Ardem, the Rollason Volkswagen conversion) and steel-tube structure, instead of
bamboo, are concessions to 1964 safety
Dr Peter Thurston
The death occurred on April 17 of one of
the earliest aeronautical researchers in
Britain, Dr Peter Thurston, who, virtually
single-handed, founded formal aeronautical
education here. He was 80.
Graduating from London University in
1905, Dr Thurston became the first Doctor
of Science in Aeronautics in Britain eight
years later. From 1903 to 1910 he was
closely associated with Sir Hiram Maxim
and in 1909, at his old college, Queen Mary
College, he founded the country's first
aeronautical laboratory, largely financed
from his own pocket. From then until 1914
he headed the laboratory and completed
much valuable work on aerofoils. Dr
Thurston anticipated Handley Page's inven-
tion of the wing slot during his researches
at this time.
He was twice president of the Newcomen
Society, among many other professional
distinctions, and in later life was a leading
patron and exponent of the art of
aeromodelling,
Air and Space at Munich
The German third stage of the ELDO
space booster will be among the exhibits
in the aeronautics and astronautics section
of the first International Exhibition of
Transport and Communications which is
Planned for Munich from June 25 to
October 3 next year.
Official applications for space have
already been received from Britain, France,
«<%mm, Italy and the Netherlands and
negotiations are in progress with theU
»R about Soviet participation in the
aviation and astronautics section.
lhe organizers are Internationale Verk-
firsausstellung, 8 Munchen 12, Theresien-
™hi> 13, West Germany (tel: 7 67 11;
tele;-.;; 05-22509)
Lift Attendants Rolls-Royce fitters at Derby assembling 4,400lb-thrust RB.I62
lift engines on a production-line basis. The RB./62, which has a thrust : weight ratio of
16:1, has been ordered for two Western European V/STOL aircraft, the EWR-Sud
VJ.IO1D and the Dassault Mirage HIV; it has also been specified for the Dornier Co3l